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How I Lost 25 Pounds — And How It Can Help Your Finances

This is a post from staff writer Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the adviser for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. He contributes one new article to Get Rich Slowly every two weeks.

It’s that time of year — the time when everyone makes resolutions in hopes that a year from now, we’ll be thinner, wealthier, smarter, more productive, and better-smelling. As I ponder my own resolutions for 2012 (wow, is it really almost 2012?), I thought I’d relate how I was actually able to follow through on a goal from several months ago.

As loyal readers may recall, in the summer of 2010 I began to try to lose weight. I clocked in at around 205 pounds, and my clothes were starting to no longer fit. As I wrote back then:

“You may be wondering why I’m telling you, the money-minded GRS audience, about my jiggly parts. Well, I think money management and blubber management have a lot in common. They both rely on smart consumption and good habits that, frankly, aren’t a lot of fun. The effects — both good and bad — aren’t noticed immediately, which makes the bad habits seem not so bad, and the good habits not-so-instantly rewarding.”

A year and a half later, I weigh 180 pounds and feel the similarities between fiscal and physical health are even more numerous. So here’s how I was able to disperse 25 pounds into the universe (since matter can neither be created nor destroyed, that 25 pounds went somewhere — my guess is Goldman Sachs turned it into an investment and sold it to an unwitting client). Regardless of what you’re trying to lose or gain, I think these principles will apply to any of your efforts to make 2012 more jingly or less jiggly.

1. Go extreme
In my post from 2010, I bemoaned the fact that after three weeks of less food and more exercise, I had lost just three pounds. I questioned whether I shouldn’t get extreme with my plan — essentially eat nothing but vegetables and lean protein, and exercise my butt off. Many commenters to that article gave the very sound advice that an extreme diet doesn’t work; it’s unhealthy and unsustainable.

That’s all true. But I eventually found that I needed to kick-start the weight loss just to feel like I was getting somewhere. So for a few weeks, I went extreme — and lost 10 pounds. It felt much more rewarding, and much more encouraging.

As for money, I’ve known many people who try to get out of debt or build up their savings by making small changes to their spending habits. These small changes can be powerful when compounded over many years, but at first they can seem like they’re not making much of a difference, which can lead people to think, “Why am I making these sacrifices when there’s such little progress?” For some people, a period of completely new habits — even if they’re extreme — are the jolt they need to break old patterns, and provide enough progress in the beginning to maintain the motivation they need to keep going.

2. Don’t go extreme forever
All that said, I eventually worked ice cream, French fries, and cookies back into my diet. I just couldn’t give them up forever. But, given the progress I already made, I wasn’t going to let them bulk me back up to 205 pounds. So I’ve been able to limit them.
In her book The Beck Diet Solution, Judith Beck discusses all the weird ways we have of thinking about food. One particularly fattening train of thought that I found myself conducting was “Well, now that I’ve eaten that, I’ve blown my diet for the day, so I might as well blow it for the rest of the day and start fresh tomorrow.” Now, I eat the occasional crappy treat, but I don’t let it open the floodgates.

With finances, it’s important to allow some “fun money” back into your life, and if you blow your budget, don’t let that be an excuse to continue your old spending habits.

3. Change your associations
I intentionally use the term “crappy treat” since I’ve come to see all the bad food for what it really is: unhealthy, fattening, teeth-attacking, and not a particularly good way to spend money, but still a treat (which, in my book, is something you can still enjoy but only once in awhile). One example: I loved soda, particularly Mountain Dew. Even as I drank it for decades, I associated it with being a kid and visiting my grandparents’ farm in Ohio (where I had more freedom to drink what I wanted). But then I began to do more research into healthy foods, and really began to understand how bad soda is. In particular, I heard a story on NPR about how meth addicts love Mountain Dew, and how it contributes to them losing their teeth (which the taxpayers have to replace for the meth addicts in prison). Now, I can’t have a Mountain Dew without feeling like my teeth are going to immediately fall out.

Watching several food-related documentaries — such as Super Size Me, Forks Over Knives, and Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead — also helped me better appreciate the long-term health effects of a bad diet. Given my family history of heart disease, I began to see a healthier lifestyle as not just a way to be only slightly embarrassed at the pool during the summer, but as a genuine way to stave off death for as long as possible.

When it comes to finances, the important change of associations I’ve made is seeing responsible habits not as self-denial but as a way to provide for my family, afford college for my kids, and a secure old age for me and my wife (especially my wife, since she’ll likely live longer than I will, regardless of my diet).

4. Use the right leverage
If changing your associations doesn’t get you to change your habits, then you might need some external motivation. Sites like RescueTime.com, QuantifiedSelf.com, Xpenser.com, StickK.com, and Fatbet.net will help you monitor your use of time, money, and food, and encourage you to lay some money on the line to encourage you to follow through on your resolutions. Or maybe you need to put your ego on the line. In their book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, John Tierney and Roy Baumeister discuss the “public humiliation diet” of Drew Magary, who Tweeted his weight every day. As Baumeister explained to me in an interview, “I think we are shaped by nature to work together with other people and therefore to care what other people think of us. The basic biological strategy of human beings is we survive and reproduce by cooperating and working together with others in these small groups, so success with them is very important.”

The Motley Fool’s internal financial fitness coach has decided to use this leverage to get me to the gym more often. He took a picture of me with my shirt off, and he has the right to put it up on the screen during a company meeting if he feels I’m not making enough progress. Now, if you knew me, you might be surprised that this means anything to me, since I’ve taken off my shirt and/or pants at several company meetings (you don’t really want to know all the details — such as announcing the new company 401(k) match by having “8%” written on my underwear — but it suffices to say that The Motley Fool is just that kind of place). But there’s something motivational about knowing that my picture could be held up before the company as an example of a guy who could use some work and isn’t getting it done.

If public accountability is the secret to your success, inform a group of people (friends, family, coworkers, government spies who monitor all our emails) about your goal — financial, physical, or otherwise — as well as when you plan to have it accomplished and how you’ll prove it. Or follow in the spirit of Drew Magary and post on your blog a picture of your scale or account balances every day, or use sites like Tweetwhatyouspend.com.

Nice article and congrats on losing the weight! One takeaway from your article is that we should view our health and finances in light of the higher concept of ‘stewardship’. If we can start to more highly value a lot of the things we usually take for granted (like our long-term health and frivolous spending) it may go a long way towards helping us appreciate the smaller things all around us, and strengthen our consumerism detection radar. And hopefully it can help us take another step in the direction of being more givers than a takers.

I have noticed one thought that always keep me away from starting with regular exercises. That is the procrastination. I always try to convince myself to start exercises from tomorrow, its an easy thing to do, will only take 15 -20 mins of my time, no big deal…so let’s start it from tomorrow and let’s do this other thing today.

I am clean on saving side though, I always try to save today and spend tomorrow. Both has to do with mental set up, failing at one, and winning at another.

Just like with my finances, I went the extreme route when I started loosing weight, loosing 50lbs in a little over 5 months almost 3 years ago. And also just like with my finances, the pendulum has come somewhere back to center. I am still 50lbs lighter, but I’m able to have ‘splurges’. I plan for them though, and I know when it a do-able thing, and when I need to reel it in. Money management and weight management are markedly similar on so many fronts.

My favorite frugal eating tip, portion control! My meal may be more expensive than average (and yummier) but if I eat less of it per sitting, it lasts me multiple meals and the cost averages out to less. Plus, I can eat anything I want, just not all at once.

I went through a similar experience over the past couple of years – although I ended up losing enough to need to buy smaller clothes than I had had. (But what a great feeling that was.)

I recently decided I’m ready to go down the last size (I never focused on the weight as much as the size/fit of my pants) and simultaneously want to tighten up my spending again and bulk up my savings. I agree that they go hand in hand and look forward to seeing where I am in three months.

I also have some coworkers who are making typical crash diet goals for the new year. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard over the last few weeks (as they gorge on baked goods, burgers & fries, soda, etc) that they have to eat it now because they are going on a diet in the new year.

This is similar to starting on a road trip by driving hundreds of miles in the opposite direction first. It just gives you that many more calories to burn before you’ll see a difference in the body you wanted to change in the first place.

One great way to save money on food is to buy a whole animal directly from a farmer. You’ll need to invest in a freezer, but the savings can be tremendous and you are getting much better quality meat from an animal that was humanely raised. From a weight loss perspective, my wife and I switched to a paleo diet and have lost a combined 100 pounds, most of that coming in the first six months. One final note: the movies mentioned in the post are very biased and filled with bad science, I’d recommend to add “Fat Head” by Tom Naughton as a good counter perspective.

The science behind the paleo diet isn’t on the soundest footing either, though. I spent a couple of years sharing a house with two visiting anthropologists at Harvard who are among the world’s leading experts on prehistoric diets, and they always scratched their heads at people who thought we should follow these diets today. The health benefits are questionable, and while it’s clear that a palo diet can help you lose weight (as you can with any diet) it’s not clear that paleo dieters are any better at keeping off the weight over the long term than are people who are committed to other diets or combinations of diet and exercise. The jury’s still out on a lot of this stuff, and to dismiss mainstream scientific understanding on diet and health as “bad science” is a little premature. There’s an interesting article in today’s New York Times on the role of genetics in weight.

That is pretty much how I eat. I have been instinctively eating Paleo long before I knew it had a name. I realized gluten and even most other grains isn’t good for me. Dairy, legumes, sugar and soy is in the same boat. That is the only way I am able to keep my weight down, skin clear, digestive track healthy, and keep my fitness levels up. There is also some (though very little) evidence that is helpful for people (me) with MS.

I’ll be going paleo starting in the new year. As for research, there are a couple of books out that are good reading. ‘Why We Get Fat’ and ‘Wheat Belly’ give a lot of great information, backed by dozens of studies. If you go back far enough, low-carb diets have been reccommended since the 1800′s, it’s only been since the 70′s that we have been side-tracked by fat-phobia. Paleo is basically a whole-foods movement that advocates restriction of grains, and consumption of the right kind and amount of fats the body needs, what could be wrong with that? I’m currently keeping my eye on the news out of Sweden and other Scandanavian countries, where many people are now following such a diet.

I’m going to try again to lose some weight by following the guidelines given in Why We Get Fat. I was simply unable to keep it up during the holiday season, due to holiday food and having extremely tight finances. Sad but true, when one is really broke, it’s far more affordable to go for the cheaper carb-laden food like bread. It can also be difficult when you’re not single; I know I would be so much better able to do this if I were just cooking for myself and eating with my own company only. Plus, certain people like to argue about a low-carb diet, how bad it is and how you should do X, when they haven’t read about it or tried it for themselves.
Good Calories, Bad Calories is also worth reading.

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Carlasays:

28 December 2011 at 9:59 am

For me weight loss and fitness is similar to personal finance: dedicating time for it and discipline. My vanity and health was my motivating factors to lose 50+ lbs and keep it off for several years now. Stepping up my workouts to now include power lifting 4 days a week is akin to me constantly looking for ways to earn extra money, not just save what little I make.

For me going extreme, especially with my diet was the only way I could have done it. In my case it wasn’t eating less food, it was changing what I eat.

Changing *what* you eat (like Carla) can be even more effective than changing *how much* you eat.

Many people could lose all the weight they need to lose simply by replacing artificial beverages with water and packaged convenience foods with fruits & vegetables.

The volume of food represented by an apple is about the same as the volume of a 12-oz bag of chips. But has about 1/6 the calories. Plus, you know, some actual nutrition.

It’s mindful eating, which is approximately the same as mindful spending. I have seen health improvements march hand-in-hand with financial improvements in too many people not to believe that the mental strategies are complementary.

As someone who lost 150lbs, be wary of trying Option 1 (going extreme).

The reason lots of people can’t keep up weight loss effort is because they expect too much, too quickly and get desperate. Going extreme feeds into that desperation and makes it more likely a person will burn out in frustration early.

If you’re able to use this “act short term while thinking long term” strategy effectively with weight loss, then more power to you — most people, however, would find that strategy backfires.

Robert – 2 thing. I have definitely fallen prey to the notion “Well, I ate some bad food, so let’s just blow the whole day”. I’m trying to get better. Also – I wish my company meetings were as interesting as yours!:)

I love how this is not another tips and tricks for shedding weight in 2012, but more about the specific psychological barriers and how you overcame them – thank you!

My wife and I have agreed to a combo of finances and weight-loss. We are each throwing $100 of our precious “fun money” along with $200 from the house into a hat held by a 3rd party. If by March 1 we both reach our goal, we split the total. If only one of us reaches it, that person gets the whole pot. If neither of us reach our 5% less bodyweight by March, her MOTHER IN LAW gets the $400. I already see the motivation in her eyes!!

Great post. I found those movies really helped change my mind about how I eat and I eat more healthfully and mindfully as a result. I am down one whole size and 8-10 pounds depending on the day. I have maintained it for three months and now want to add exercise in and tone up. I am spending less on food and honestly eating out at a chain restaurant or fast food makes me feel I’ll because I am used to eating high quality veggies and meat (the latter in smaller portions). My clothes hang on me but a visit to the tailor will help with that!

One particularly fattening train of thought that I found myself conducting was “Well, now that I’ve eaten that, I’ve blown my diet for the day, so I might as well blow it for the rest of the day and start fresh tomorrow.”

Our Weight Watchers facilitator had a great saying about this – if one of us would stumble on a step while walking down a long stairwell, would we throw ourselves down the remaining stairs because we made that mistake? Of course not.

A little stumble is no excuse to throw away a perfectly good path.

Happy holidays to one and all, and all the best to a prosperous and mindful new year!

Self-image is key. For years I didn’t see myself as overweight or poor. Now that I am working hard to save money and lose the extra weight at the same time, I see the parallels. The free myfitnesspal app is helping me keep track of calories and portion sizes. I wish mint.com was this intutive. I still need to figure out how to better track my spending. I need to save up for new clothes and the pricey fruits and vegetables I have been eating lately are cutting into that.

Congrats on your weight loss! I also have embarked on the weightless journey and to my surprise have lost 40lbs in the last year and a half. I completely agree that weight loss and money are pretty much one in the same. For me making slow and steady changes along with a solid plan made all the difference for me. I started each week with a menu plan and made ahead all my meals. I also freeze most of my dinners so they are resdy at night when we want them. That way there was little room to grab impulse foods because I already had the healthy foods prepared. Good luck in 2012.

StickK sounded like an amazing idea so I tried it. The site botched the credit card transaction! Now there’s money going to my anti-charity. Boo. Hopefully tech support can help, but that’s really awful.

I love this post. It’s hilarious yet very informative. In my personal experience, I’ve had to use extreme measures for almost 2 years to eliminate debt. I realize that it’s not for everybody but during that time I couldn’t sleep well at night knowing that I owe so much money. After 2 years of being driven like a gazelle (as Dave Ramsey would say), I could finally sleep better knowing that I’m financially healthy and could handle the not-so-cool emergencies that are bound to happen.

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